“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
Mark Twain
Message From Mr Sutherland
Message From Mr SutherlandSo, after a really busy summer term, we reach the penultimate week of the academic and our last newsletter of the year.
Today you will be receiving your child’s report and any relevant individual results for your child’s year group. Firstly, I have read every single report across the school personally and want to express how proud I am of all the children for the tremendous attitude and work ethic they have demonstrated throughout the year. All the reports evidence how hard children have worked to achieve at their subjects – those that they love but also those they find more difficult. They have tried their best in the core subjects of Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Science but also excelled in areas of our wider curriculum. They have fully embraced our “Ready, Respect, Kind” ethos and looked after their friends and any new children in their classes wonderfully. I am very proud of all of them; they are a credit to you, our school and the community. Perhaps, if you have a little time, you might also consider looking back at our website and some of our social media posts throughout the year, which capture all the other things we do together every day, every week and every term; experiences and outcomes which are no less valuable than those contained in your child’s report.
I hope that you read and had time to read through the letter I sent you last week regarding Poverty Proofing and the outcomes from our recent audit. As I mentioned in my letter, your constructive feedback was extremely helpful as we begin to shape improvements for next academic year and you will receive further communication early in the autumn term regarding improvements we are making directly as a response to your feedback.
Next week is a busy week for our Year 6 cohort as, this time next week, they will be preparing to leave us. I am looking forward to joining some of you for our Leavers’ Celebration next Wednesday after school. I would like to say how proud of our Year 6 children I am and I would like to thank them for their contribution to school life over the past 7 years or so. I wish them every success and happiness in the future. For those parents and carers who have no more children in our school and are therefore “leaving us” also, may I thank you whole-heartedly for your support and commitment over the years. When school and parents are able to work together, the evidence tells us that outcomes across the board are improved. I believe they have their Year 6 Prom tonight to look forward to and I hope that they have a wonderful evening.
Once again, this has been a very busy year with lots and lots to celebrate. I hope your children have had fun and been inspired along the way. My thanks, as always, go to the staff team right across the school for their hard work, dedication and tireless enthusiasm for delivering the very best education we possibly can for your children. I wish the staff who are leaving us every success and happiness in the future and welcome new members of our team to Dunston Hill Community Primary School.
I hope to see some of you on the yard over the next week but, in case I don’t, may I wish you a safe and happy summer break with family and friends.
I look forward to seeing you back at the start of our new academic year 2025-26 on Tuesday, September 2nd.
Best wishes
Whole School Information
Diversity Week
What another wonderful week of celebrating differences, during Diversity Week! Miss Ornsby kicked off the week with 2 assemblies looking at stories which show that having different groups of people in society makes our world a much more interesting and colourful place. Some classes then spent time learning about an influential person, such as Louis Braille or Martin Luther King, and how they stood up and embraced their differences. Some classes learnt about different religions and cultures, and celebrated the things that made them unique. We ended with a gorgeous Rainbow Day and it was so lovely to see all of the children stand out from the crowd!
Family Learning
A huge thank you to all our parents/carers who have attended our Family Learning programmes. In the Autumn Term, we will continue Family Learning every Friday morning.
We will be starting our first family workshop for Reception families with ‘Happily Ever Crafter’ on Friday 12 September from 9:00am to 10:15am. This is a one-off craft workshop where children bring stories to life through art and creativity!
Starting from Friday 19 September until 17 October, each week from 9:00am to 10:30am, we will be hosting a Phonics Family Learning course for Reception and Year 1 parents/carers.
Information on how to sign up using Arbor will be emailed to parents on Monday 1 September.
1, 2, 3 Magic
Would you like support managing your child’s/children’s behaviour? Then look no further, and join us in 1, 2, 3 Magic. Early Help will be running the 1, 2, 3 Magic course in school on Wednesday 17 and 24 September. Please speak to Mrs Cox if you would like further information.
ADHD Parenting Programme
In October, we will once again host our eight-week Parent Plus ADHD course, focusing on supporting parents/carers in helping your child/children to reach their full potential. Last year, thos who participated, felt they benefited from the course and would highly recommend it. If you are interested in taking part in the course in October, please pop in to see Mrs Cox.
Extra-Curricular Activities for Autumn Term 1
Information regarding our Extra-Curricular Activities will be sent by email on Monday, 1 September 2025. Bookings using Arbor will open at 8pm on Monday, 1 September, and close at 9am on Friday, 5 September 2025.
School Lunch
The menu for the week commencing Monday 1 September 2025 is Week 1. We will be starting with Tuesday’s menu. School lunch cost £2.80 per day payable in advance using the school app Schoolgateway.
Please click here to view our school menu for 2025-26. This menu will also be emailed to parents/carers next week.
As part of our Healthy Schools programme, we ask that children not bring crisps, chocolate or fizzy drinks in their packed lunches.
Due to allergies, please ensure that no peanuts or items containing nuts are brought into school, including in the form of Snickers, chocolate spread or peanut butter sandwiches. This is especially important to remember for children bringing in packed lunches or snacks.
UNIVERSAL INFANT FREE SCHOOL MEALS (UIFSM) are applicable for all children in reception and years 1 and 2 (KS1). However for pupils currently in year 2, in order for the free school meal to continue when they commence year 3 in September 2024, parents will need to apply to the means-tested scheme and can do so via Gateshead Council’s website at Free school meals – Gateshead Council , by telephoning 0191 4333729 or by completing the free school meals application form.
PE and Forest School days from September 2025
Details will follow next week before we break up for the Summer.
Swimming
Year 5 children will swim from Monday, 8 September 2025.
Autumn Term updates
Look out for our Autumn Term overviews coming out in the second week of September from your child’s class teacher – we are very excited for the year ahead.
Early Years News
Nursery Farm Trip – Nursery had a fantastic visit to Hall Hill Farm. The children enjoyed a tour of the farm to see all of the animals. They fed goats, lambs and sheep and were able to handle guinea pigs, rabbits and chicks. We all enjoyed a ride on the tractor and trailer too, which was great fun!
Reception had a wonderful visit to South Shields. We were doubtful of the weather first thing in the morning, but it remained dry and fine for us to enjoy our day. We went on to the beach to build sandcastles and play games with our friends. Then, the RNLI Lifeguards came to talk to us about keeping ourselves safe on the beach and near the water, before we rolled up our trousers and had a paddle in the sea. We had a picnic with some chips on the beach, then we went for ice-creams before heading into the park for a ride on the steam train. Thanks to all staff, and of course our parent/carer volunteers. The children behaved wonderfully.
Nursery and Reception Stay and Explore – Reception enjoyed our most recent ‘Stay and Explore’ event. Lots of our parents/carers joined us for Hungry Caterpillar themed activities indoors, and a range of sunny games and activities outdoors. Nursery loved showing their grown-ups all things ‘Minibeasts’. As always, a huge thanks to our families for their ongoing support and attendance at our events.
Key Stage One News
Key Stage 1 have had a very busy and fun-filled half-term. Recently, Year 2 visited the National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool, where they built on their learning of what life was like on board a pirate ship. The children explored the many decks of the HMS Trincomalee and immersed themselves in a Fighting Ships experience. They ended their visit with a trip to the Pirate Park – what a great day!
Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed all of their Forest School lessons with Mrs O’Hara and they have developed many skills. One of their favourite activities was making Butterfly Puppets. The children learned about the life cycle of a butterfly and then created their own caterpillars or butterflies using only natural resources such as leaves and twigs.
Another highlight for Year 1 has been our Computing lessons, where we have been developing our computer programming skills. We began by programming each other, then our teachers. We realised that to achieve a specific outcome, we need to give a clear set of instructions to follow in order. We talked about this being an algorithm. We then went onto creating algorithms for our Bee-Bot to get from one place to another. We discovered that if our algorithm didn’t work, we had to debug it (fix it).
Lower Key Stage Two News
Year 3 have had a busy Summer term jam packed with so much learning! In Computing, the children enjoyed developing their understanding of coding by providing instructions to make a jam sandwich! Who knew things could go so terribly wrong when instructions aren’t quite accurate? In PE, the children loved learning the rules of rounders and it has been great to see them working successfully as a team when batting and fielding. Two more recent highlights that the children have mentioned, include when we received a visit from local artist Brian Rankin; Brian came to school to share the great work he has been carrying out into another local artist, Charlie Rogers. The children had so many questions about Charlie’s life and they loved looking at the paintings he had made of Saltwell Park. The top highlight to end the year was our visit to Broom House Farm. The children loved zooming about in the forest on zipwires and sledges, and the team work and bravery displayed is testament to the great progress our children have made this year! Well done Year 3 – you’re ready to take on Year 4!
What a busy term Year 4 have had! It feels like we’ve packed in lots of lovely learning; one of our highlights being finding out about the life of Jacques Cousteau in English. We were intrigued to find that, before he invented the Aqua-Lung, no one had explored the world underwater! In Geography, we’ve been learning about everything Ecuador! Can you believe it has an ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’ where 8 mountains of the Andes make a path? We also loved our Fieldwork Fortnight in Geography where we photographed colours in the local environment and explored what life would be like without them. Our visit to Dunston Library was good fun and we enjoyed choosing some books to take back to school to enjoy in the reading area.
Upper Key Stage Two News
This half-term, our Year 5 children had a visit from the paramedics. Children had the opportunity to tour the back of their ambulance to see the equipment used each day and how it is stored safely when the ambulance is responding to an emergency. They asked brilliant questions to find out more as to how the paramedics help different patients. Children got to have a go with a range of equipment that would be used to treat different injuries. Next, they learnt some first aid skills so that they would be able to help in case of an accident. Children learnt how to apply gauze and bandages to different limbs and they were given a lesson on how to administer CPR.
Year 6 visited St Nicholas’ Church recently to coincide with their RE lessons’ key question: “What impact does Christianity have in our world 2000 years later?” The children created some thought-provoking questions which Ann and Kay were able to answer, such as: How big is the congregation at St Nicholas’? Do you have a Sunday school? Which charities do you fundraise for? Ann and Kay were the perfect hosts and shared key information with our children. We look forward to working with the St Nicholas’ Church Community in the future, particularly with their 60th Birthday Celebrations in the Autumn Term.
Year 6 – So long … farewell!
How is it July already? We would like to take this opportunity to wish our Year 6 children a fond farewell as they leave us for pastures new in their respective secondary schools. Miss Parkin, Miss Reay and Mrs Ion have loved teaching our Year 6 children who are hardworking, fun-loving, caring and the embodiment of our school values! From fantastic SATs results, amazing residentials, brilliant progress in lessons to laughs and giggles aplenty, we have had the best year! Good Luck, Dunston Hill Class of 2025!
Times Tables
Firstly, we would like to congratulate our Year 4 children who completed their Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) this term. This is a national assessment set by the Government that all children in Year 4 are required to complete. The children are given 25 times table questions testing their accuracy to tables up to 12 x 12. The children performed brilliantly and we are very proud of the progress each and every one of them has made. I am sure they will tell you themselves that using Times Table Rockstars is a great way to support developing speed and accurate recall of facts, especially when the MTC requires children to answer each question in 6 seconds! Times table tournaments have also continued to take place across school and the children are enjoying celebrating their successes in our Friday Celebration Assembly! Please continue to encourage your child to access Times Table Rockstars weekly and challenge themselves to increase their knowledge and speed. The games can be accessed throughout the Summer break too!
Climate Crew
Our Climate Crew have continued to work hard to ensure that our school remains as environmentally friendly as possible. The children have monitored any lights being left on, taps left running and incorrect recycling. It has been fantastic to see so many children continuing to walk to school which helps us to reduce our carbon footprint. As a reminder – as long as children walk, scoot, cycle or park and stride to school twice or more per week, they will earn their badge at the end of the month. As we draw this final term to a close, we have updated our action plan with activities completed this year and have already started discussing opportunities to make an impact next year. Well done, Climate Crew!
Sports News
SEND/Nurture
Don’t forget you can reach out to Miss Tuart (SENDCo/Deputy Headteacher) should you wish to discuss your child’s needs and/or provision: sendco@dunstonhillschool.co.uk.
You can also reach out to Mrs Cox (Family Support Worker): fsw@dunstonhillschool.co.uk