To help our new cohort of Year 7 pupils to transition smoothly to Duke’s Secondary School in September, staff at Duke’s have put together an exciting Summer School programme for pupils to enjoy!

Taking place between 19th-23rd July, our Summer School programme is packed full of fantastic, fun activities to help the new Year 7s to get better acquainted with their new school and make some new friends along the way!

See details below…

For more information, see: https://dukes.ncea.org.uk/summer-school-2021/

If anyone has any questions about Duke’s summer school programme, please contact Mrs A Mitcheson on 01670 816111 ext. 358 or email ashleigh.mitcheson@dukes.ncea.org.uk.

A teacher at a school in South East Northumberland for children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) is helping pupils to take miraculous steps towards a better, more independent way of living by getting creative with items typically found around the house.

Gillian Robinson, a primary teacher at Castle School, has introduced the concept of ‘Active Learning’ into her classroom to help give a sense of freedom back to pupils who are typically dependent on those around them to support their needs.

Devised by Danish psychologist, Dr Lilli Nielson, as a solution for teaching children with visual impairments, Active Learning has adapted over the years and is now recognised as beneficial to children and young people with a wide range of severe and multiple disabilities.

Gillian first came across the approach during lockdown while researching ways to better manage the complex range of needs within her classroom to ensure that while individuals’ medical, hygiene and feeding needs were attended to, that the rest of her class remained stimulated.

Using everyday items such as buckets, A-frames, Tupperware boxes, blackout curtains and plumber’s piping, Gillian has created a sensory paradise for her learners to support their mobility and cognitive skill development, alongside their emotional and social wellbeing.

“Many children with profound and complex needs develop ‘learnt helplessness’ – the idea that they have no control over their environment, so they learn to wait patiently and that eventually, someone will provide them with what they need. Over time, this kind of behaviour can lead to passiveness where children stop communicating altogether,” Gillian commented.

“Active Learning is designed to encourage the children to do things for themselves, it teaches children how to interact with their environment and explore their immediate space with confidence and shows them how their actions can affect the things around them.”

While specialist equipment to support Active Learning is available, many of the manufacturers are based in the United States, which makes sourcing equipment tricky and expensive – luckily, Gillian is quite creative.

“Lilli Nielson recognised that children with sensory and physical impairments needed to be taught to explore the space around them using all of their body,” said Gillian.

“A few of the children in my class have very limited movement and rely on specialist positional equipment like wheelchairs or work chairs, which can make accessing sand and water trays, foot spas and play spaces very difficult.

“By combing the internet, I was able to find designs for DIY versions of almost all of the resources I needed to bring Active Learning to life in the classroom in a way which would meet the very specific needs of my pupils.

“I made my own waterfall curtain out of plumbers piping and a window blind cord with small bells added onto the end; our echo bucket is simply a metal bucket with holes cut into it attached to a rope pulley system so I can lower it over children sitting in wheelchairs. Our A-frames and wall-mounted sensory boards are made from materials found at B&Q and the voice activated light box is just a large Tupperware container lined with some reflective foil and fitted with a disco light that reacts to bass sounds – which has made a huge difference to our non-verbal children, showing them that using their voice has a purpose and will be listened to.

“After some searching, I was even able to find a design to make accessible foot exploration trays from decking boards which the children can use while in their work chairs to help them develop awareness and purposeful movement of their feet.”

Sara Wild, Principal at Castle School, commented:

“We’ve been amazed by the improvements shown by some of the children in Gillian’s class since the introduction of Active Learning into their daily lessons.

“One child, who was quite disengaged and spent a lot of his floor time curled up and actively turning away from interactions and resources now reaches out to explore things around him in lots of different environments and his engagement in his exploration is really focused. He also has much better use of his voice to attract attention. Another, who uses a walking frame to aid his mobility, has made remarkable improvements, going from being unmotivated to move around and reluctant to take steps to now showing huge resilience and persistence when moving around large spaces to reach the toys and resources he wants to engage with.

“The success of the Active Learning initiative in Gillian’s class has seen us make time in our curriculum for Active Learning across Castle School, with Gillian taking the lead on training our teachers and support staff. We’re incredibly proud of what Gillian has achieved and can’t wait to see more of our children benefit from the programme.”

Castle School is a specialist provision for children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Operating as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust, the school offers places for pupils aged 2-19 at its purpose-built campus in Ashington.

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

Pupils enjoying Active Learning at Castle School

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

On 23/06/21, schools and colleges across the UK marked ‘National Thank a Teacher Day’.

While almost any member of staff who works in a school will tell you that they’re doing what they love and that they don’t need any recognition – in the aftermath of what has been a challenging year for everyone in education, our staff across the Trust were humbled by the lovely notes, gifts, drawings and paintings that were sent into school.

“We would like to share our thanks and appreciation to our wonderful pupils, who will always be our greatest teacher.”

Here are just some of the wonderful notes and pieces of artwork that were sent to our staff…

Click on any photo to view images in a slideshow.

Castle School

Duke’s Secondary School

Bishop’s Primary School – Josephine Butler Campus

21-25 June is School Diversity Week. Organised each year by the ‘Just Like Us’ charity, the week is designed to celebrate LGBT+ equality in education.

At NCEAT, we are proud to be inclusive and across our schools, we do all we can to educate our children and young people and help them to be true to themselves. Here’s just a taste of the different activities that have been taking place throughout the week:

Bishop’s Primary – William Leech Campus

As part of Diversity Week, children at William Leech Campus have been exploring how we are all wonderfully different through a new collection of books in our library.

The books tell stories and explore themes such as stereotypes, being yourself, equality and diversity.  They have really helped children to think about the language they use and to support everyone regardless of what they look like, their interests or their family background.

The books are currently in the library to share as a class or small group but will be available to borrow after this week.

Warkworth Primary School

Pupils at Warkworth Primary have taken Diversity Week a step further and are enjoying an entire Pride Month! Classes have decorated their windows using chalk paint with rainbows and messages of love and support for the initiative. As part of their school transition exercise in partnership with Duchess High School in Alnwick, the Year 6 pupils have also been busy making pom poms to create a giant pom pom rainbow to go on display at the school.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to view images as a slideshow.

Duke’s Secondary School
A former Duke’s student, who now works as a drag artist known as ‘Pia Pressure’, created a special video message for Duke’s pupils about their own experiences at school, why they do drag and why events like School Diversity Week and Pride are so important for educating our young people about the LGBTQ+ community.

As Coronavirus restrictions across most of the UK continue to ease, a Northumberland farm has opened its doors for its first educational visits since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

Broxfield Farm, a working cattle and wheat farm based near Alnwick in Northumberland, welcomed Reception pupils from Bishop’s Primary School as part of a ‘Farm Discovery’ programme organised through national education charity, The Country Trust.

Designed to help children from urban areas to gain access to the countryside and learn more about the important role that agriculture plays in our food supply chain, the visits offer a unique way for children to learn about nature, the food they eat and how the countryside works – at a level tailored to their own age and understanding.

Over the course of two days, pupils from Bishop’s Primary School’s Josephine Butler and William Leech Campuses respectively descended on Broxfield Farm, where David Thompson and his family have tended the land for more than 200 years.

The pupils, aged 4-5, spent the days learning about food and farming and the connection between the two. They enjoyed a ride through the fields on a purpose-built passenger trailer, tried their hand at feeding some of the Aberdeen Angus suckler cows, including Pip and Dallas the bulls, milled their own flour from grains of wheat and enjoyed a nature trail through the ‘enchanted forest’ which surrounds the farmland.

Vicky Dewar, Deputy Director of Early Years at Bishop’s Primary School, commented:

“Due to Covid restrictions, our youngest learners have missed out on so much. Under normal circumstances, our early years curriculum at Bishop’s Primary is packed full with day trips and experiences for the children to enjoy as part of their learning, so it was wonderful to be able to finally get back to some kind of ‘normal’ and take our Reception pupils out on their first ever educational visit to the farm.

“For some of our children, this visit was their first experience of the countryside. Getting to see farm animals up close and just enjoy all of the open space is so important for their personal development and wellbeing, especially after so long in lockdown. We’re incredibly grateful to Farmer David for having us and to The Country Trust for making it possible.”

David Thompson has been heavily involved with the charity for over 20 years and hosts many visits to Broxfield each year. He said:

“It’s been great to welcome school trips back to the farm again. Over the years, I’ve worked with schools from all across the North East, hosting visits for pupils from Reception age, right up to Year 6. With each age group, the activities remain largely the same, the ‘pitch’ is what varies. With the little ones, it’s about helping them to explore the countryside safely and teaching them about the things which live and grow on a farm, whereas with older children, you can get into more detail about environmental concerns and the idea of food traceability.

“I was so impressed with the pupils from Bishop’s Primary School. For being so young, they were so engaged and attentive and asked some great questions. On both days that the pupils visited, new calves had just been born, which was a real bonus – to be able to show the children hours-old animals. They were amazed that the baby cows could already walk! A great time was had by all and I look forward to welcoming more pupils throughout the summer.”

Bishop’s Primary School operates as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust (NCEAT), a multi-academy Trust for pupils aged 2-19.

For more information visit bishops.ncea.org.uk or to learn more about The Country Trust, visit www.countrytrust.org.uk.

A generous donation towards books and resources is helping early years’ pupils at a Northumberland primary school to play ‘catch up’ in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

Young learners aged between two and four years who attend Bishop’s Primary School’s early years’ facilities have received special ‘Story Sacks’ filled with books, educational games and learning resources to enjoy at home thanks to a £2,000 donation from Newcastle Diocese Mothers’ Union.

Mothers’ Union is a Church of England affiliated organisation with over four million members worldwide, whose primary aim is to support Christian family life and the nurture of children.

When the pandemic first hit, Mothers’ Union members realised that children’s development, especially those in isolated communities or areas of high socio-economic deprivation, would be particularly affected by an extended period of lockdown.

With over 900 members in the Newcastle Diocese area alone, the charity’s Diocesan President, Barbara Packer, wanted to explore how the charity could best support the children deemed most in need throughout Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

Barbara said: “Since we are a Church of England organisation, I approached the Diocesan Education Department for advice as to the best way to help children in our Church communities to gain access to educational resources which would support their development in the aftermath of lockdown.

“The department suggested Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust and more specifically, Bishop’s Primary School. We had already decided that we could afford to give £2,000 and that we would be guided by ‘those on the ground’ as to the best way to use it.”

Trustees from the charity were directed towards Bishop’s Primary School’s Principal, Melanie Hinson, who launched a staff consultation to determine who would benefit most from the initiative.

“Staff agreed that it was our early years children whose education had been most affected by the prolonged period of lockdown,” Melanie commented.

“While our older children have been able to engage in a full programme of remote learning, for our two and three year olds, the lack of interaction with children their own age has seen them return to our early years settings less confident, more anxious and in some cases, less independent than they were before.

“Liaising with Mothers’ Union, we agreed that ‘Story Sacks’ – or something similar – seemed to be a good way in which quite a lot of children could benefit, and receive resources which could be used at home to support their speech and language development, fine motor skills and confidence building among other things.

“The Story Sacks have been really well received by staff, parents and our young learners. We can’t thank Mothers’ Union enough for their kind donation.”

Serving South East Northumberland with campuses across Ashington, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Lynemouth, Bishop’s Primary School (part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust) is one of the largest primary academies in the region, with over 1,600 pupils aged 2-11.

With early years provisions based at four out of its five campuses, Bishop’s Primary is an early-adopter of the new EYFS framework for high-quality early learning.

For more information, visit www.bishops.ncea.org.uk or to find out more about Mothers’ Union, see www.mothersunion.org.

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 bishops.ncea.org.uk.

A top London security firm boss, whose bodyguards protect the rich and famous, has stepped in to support the Northumberland primary school which set him on the road to success.

A former Major in the British Army Reserve, Bob Morrison, owner of Mayfair-based Sec-Tech, now provides close protection for VIPs from the UK and abroad and advises on personal and corporate security.

But over the years he has also kept a watchful eye on his former school, Lynemouth Country Primary School, now named Bishop’s Primary School – William Leech Campus, which operates as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust (NCEAT).

And, when he learned it had applied to the Greggs Foundation Breakfast Club, which provides a nutritious pre-school breakfast for primary pupils, he stepped in to help, providing two years’ worth of sponsorship.

Bob, whose father Jim Morrison ran the Post Office at 47 Albion Terrace from 1958 until 1987, attended Lynemouth County Primary School from 1963-69 before moving, at age 10, to King Edward VI Grammar School, Morpeth.

He said: “I received a great education at Lynemouth CP School and it has served me well throughout my life.

“It’s helped me achieve many things – 22 years with the Territorial Army in the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Logistics Corps, a commission at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and even an Honours Degree in International Business Studies with French and German – for which I am eternally grateful.

“For me, the opportunity to sponsor the Breakfast Club at my old school is simply a wonderful way to say thank you and it was also a pleasure to work with Greggs Foundation who made the whole process really easy.

“I know that there are other schools that could benefit, and I really hope more businesses will get on board and support this fantastic initiative.”

Amy Thompson, Head of Campus at Bishop’s Primary School – William Leech Campus, commented:

“We have been completely blown away by Bob’s generosity toward our school.

“As the cost of living has gone up and more recently, as Covid-19 has seen more and more people go without a full-time regular income, many of our families have found it increasingly difficult to fund their children’s place at breakfast club.

“Breakfast is such an important meal for kick-starting children’s metabolism and making sure that they’re properly ‘awake’, so being able to ensure that all of our pupils have eaten well before they begin their lessons each day is fantastic. It improves their attention span and their levels of concentration and also their overall behaviour in the classroom.

“On behalf of all of the staff and pupils, I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Bob and his team at Sec-Tech, as well as the team at the Greggs Foundation, for helping to make this possible.”

Lynne Hindmarch, Greggs Foundation, Breakfast Club Manager, commented:

“We currently support over 620 breakfast clubs nationally in areas of high disadvantage. The need is even greater due to COVID-19 as families who have always just about managed now find themselves in difficult circumstances asking for help for the first time.

“As part of Greggs Pledge, we hope to have 680 schools open by the end of 2021. We cannot do this alone and by working collaboratively with 106 wonderful partners such as Sec-Tech, we are able to support 40,000 children each school day access a FREE nutritional breakfast who otherwise might go without.”

To find out more about the programme please visit www.greggsfoundation.org.uk/breakfast-clubs.

For more information about Sec-Tech visit https://sectech-uk.com/.

This Friday (2 April), as well as celebrating Good Friday, within Castle School, NCEA Trust’s specialist school for children and young people with learning disabilities, and across the wider Trust, we’re also celebrating World Autism Awareness Day.

Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the collective name given to a range of conditions, characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours and communication.

Autistic people may find it hard to communicate with others, struggle to comprehend emotions, become anxious in unfamiliar surroundings and find things like loud noises and bright lights overwhelming.

Being diagnosed as autistic does not stop individuals from living a full and happy life, however the nature of Autism may affect focus, attention, transitions, organisation, memory, time management and emotional control – everything we do in life involves these skills, which can make life for people with Autism a huge challenge, especially school-age children.

Celebrating individuality

The acclaimed photographer, Stephen Shore once said: “If you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism.”

Every child or young person diagnosed as autistic will have their own unique abilities, interests and learning styles which is why at Castle School, we strive to ensure we provide the best support possible by creating a personalised curriculum, appropriate to the needs of each pupil.

At Castle School, our pupils are at the heart of everything we do and we always respect the children and what is important to them. People with Autism work best in structured environments which are laid out in such a way that the room, and the things in it, tell them what is going to happen. Schedules or work systems which ‘tell’ students what to do are also really helpful to ensure that they can see how much they have to do, the order in which they have to do it and when they will be finished, so there are no surprises.

Many of our Autistic pupils have special interests and it is important that throughout the day that they have the opportunity to pursue and enjoy activities which promote these interests, however we also support children to try new things in a safe environment to help broaden their horizons.

Ensuring every pupil has a voice

Many autistic children find it hard to communicate their thoughts and feelings and have difficulty developing the language skills needed to understand and respond effectively to what others say to them. They also often have difficulty communicating non-verbally, through things such as hand gestures, eye contact and facial expressions.

Supporting our pupils to develop effective communication strategies is a key part of what we do in school, supported by our fantastic Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists from the NHS.

We use a wide range of approaches throughout the school, from Makaton to Communication Boards, to ensure that our children and young people are supported and can always make their voices heard.

The language of Autism

Last year, the North East Autism Society (NEAS) led a campaign to change the conversations we have around Autism from ‘awareness’ to ‘acceptance’. Why ‘acceptance’? Surely there’s no-one out there who wouldn’t be accepting of someone simply because they’re autistic?

The idea behind the campaign was to change the narrative from one of passive understanding to active comprehension. Awareness, especially in the digital age, can be damaging. There’s so much misinformation available at the click of a button. Acceptance on the other hand requires a commitment to learn, to make changes, to understand and to not see any adjustments as doing anyone a favour – instead it’s about collectively creating a world where we can all thrive.

Celebrating inclusivity

One of the three original schools which made up Northumberland Church of England Academy prior to its devolution to a Multi-Academy Trust in 2009, Castle School shares its main entrance with Bishop’s Primary School’s Josephine Butler Campus and Duke’s Secondary School.

Although we do have staggered start and finish times to ensure that our pupils who don’t respond well to busy environments have enough space to move through the entrance without delays, it is wonderful to see how pupils from the other schools interact together.

There can be times when some Castle pupils may be very anxious and at these moments, Castle staff will always take time to reassure pupils from Duke’s and Bishop’s, explain what’s going on and answer any questions they may have, but for the most part, they are very accepting and willing to offer help where needed.

Sara Wild, Principal at Castle School, commented:

“At Castle School, we’re passionate about creating a safe and caring environment where our pupils can express their individuality while learning vital social and communication skills to support them to live better, more independent lives.

“Each and every one of our pupils who has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder is unique and talented in their own special way. We learn as much from them as they learn from us and we’re proud to join in the celebration of their individuality on World Autism Awareness Day.”

To find out more about Castle School, visit www.castle.ncea.org.uk.