Dunston News – 16.10.25

Oct 16, 2025Dunston News

“With freedom, books, flowers and the Moon, who could not be happy”

Oscar Wilde

Message From Mr Sutherland

Welcome to our first newsletter of this academic year and I hope that you enjoy catching up on all the things we have done in this first half term.  It’s clear from the content of our newsletter just how much we have already accomplished and there is so much more to come after the half-term break. 

I was delighted to be able to join our Year 6 children and some of our staff at their Ford Castle residential in October and it was such a wonderful start to the year. The children not only made me very proud as representatives of our school, but as individuals they demonstrated resilience and determination – supporting and encouraging others and challenging themselves to take part in activities they may never have tried before. I would also like to say a huge “thank you” to the staff who were able to support this residential, giving up their own time and time with their families to ensure Year 6 had a fantastic time. Without their support, these residentials just wouldn’t happen!

It was lovely seeing so many parents and carers at our “Meet the Teacher” sessions. I think it is a wonderful way for you to see your child’s classroom learning about just what happens during a day at Dunston Hill. The fact that it is all explained to you by the children makes it all the more valuable and I hope that it brings our school to life for you.

New School Councilors have been elected and have already met to be part of discussions around the future of our school. This includes continuing the wonderful work our Climate Crew are doing to ensure that we are all as environmentally responsible as possible.

We had a fantastic Harvest Festival in school with the children from each year group presenting to the whole school. May I thank you all for your very kind donations which we have passed immediately to FACT to help them continue their work.

You will also have seen that our whole-school yearly calendar is now up and running on our website as promised.  I hope that you find it a helpful addition to our methods of communication with you.

Next week, the last week of the half-term, we all look forward to welcoming you to our Parent Consultations, whether that be via phone call or in person. Miss Tuart and I will be around school also throughout the sessions to say “Hello”, so please feel free to ask us any questions or pass on your feedback.  We also have a special visit arranged next week from our Daft as a Brush ambulance.  Volunteers from this organisation are presenting an assembly to the whole school and then the children will get the chance to have a supervised look around our ambulance as it will be parked safely on our site.

If I don’t see you in the meantime, have a wonderful half-term break with family and friends.  We will see you all on Monday 3rd November 2025 at the usual times.

Best wishes

Whole School Information

MacMillan Coffee Morning

At our Macmillan Coffee Morning, we sold lots of delicious treats, that were gifted, and played a funfilled game of bingo, raising a total of £85. Thank you for your kind donations.

Harvest Festival

Last week, children from Reception to Year 6 enjoyed a whole school Harvest Festival assembly led by Mrs Cowan and Ann, the Lay Minister from St Nicholas Church, focusing on the true meaning of Harvest. Each year group shared something they had learned in their class. Once again, we would like to thank everyone for the very kind donations. We were blown away with peoples’ generosity and FACT (Fighting All Cancers Together) greatly appreciated your donations.

Hello Yellow World Mental Health Day

What an amazing day we had in school celebrating Hello Yellow for World Mental Health Day. School looked lovely and bright with all of the flashes of yellow out and about! Children took part in some special activities to think about their mental health. In KS2, children in Year 5 discussed their ‘mental battery’ and thought about strategies that would help ‘charge’ them up. In KS1, Year 1 and Year 2 discussed a range of emotions and how to manage these feelings, including who to talk to if they feel worried or upset. 

Ford Castle

It was a pleasure to take our Year 6 on their residential to Ford Castle in Northumberland earlier this half-term. The children spent two nights staying in the castle and completing a range of exciting outdoor and adventurous activities. Amongst much more, we saw bullseyes being hit in archery; swords drawn in Fencing; harnesses secured, ready to zoom down the zip-line and Mr Sutherland face-plant the water in River Rafting! It was great to see the children challenge themselves beyond their comfort zones, be resilient when things got tough, and care for one another as they spent their first residential together.
Our current Year 5 children have received a letter about next year’s trip, which outlines information about the meeting on Tuesday, 4 November at 5pm.

 

Family Learning

Family Learning this half-term has been a great success. Our families from Early Years and Key Stage 1 have enjoyed crafting in our Happy Ever Crafting workshop. They then completed our Phonics Fun course.
Next half-term, why not get into the festive spirit while learning valuable enterprise and creative skills with our Christmas Enterprise Course. This fun, hands-on course will guide you through designing, making, and marketing your own Christmas-themed products, such as handmade gifts, decorations, or festive treats.
All you have to do is sign up via Arbor from 8pm on Monday 20 October.

 

Family Forest

Our families have had a fantastic time participating in our Autumn Family Forest School. We made dens, blackberry ink, carved pumpkins, toasted marshmallows, made clay fairy houses, and finished off with a wonderful Autumn walk to Whickham Thorn centre.
Family Forest will continue next half-term: Wednesdays at 2:00 pm. Book your place via Arbor from 8pm on Monday 20 October.

 

Toddlers

Join our Toddlers Group every Wednesday morning, 8.50am to 9.45am in the School Hall. We would love to see you there.

 

Children in Need

Children in Need is Friday, 14 November. This year, children and staff can wear SPOTacular outfits for a £1 donation.

Extra-Curricular Activities for Autumn Term 2

Information regarding our Extra-Curricular Activities will be sent by email on Monday, 20 October 2025. Bookings using Arbor will open at 8pm on Monday, 20 October, and close at 9am on Friday, 24 October 2025.

School Lunch

The menu for the week commencing Monday 20 October 2025 is Week 2.  We will be starting with Tuesday’s menu.  School lunch cost £2.80 per day payable in advance using the school app Schoolgateway.

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.

Forest School from Monday 3 November 2025

Children should come to school dressed in clothing suitable for the weather, including a warm coat, gloves, and a hat when it is cold.  On their bottom half, they should wear black trousers, which you are happy for them to get dirty in, a school hoodie and a white T-shirt. They should bring their wellies to leave in a plastic carrier bag.

Reception – Monday

Year 1 – Thursday

 

PE from Monday 3 November 2025

Children should come to school dressed in their PE kit; a school hoodie, a white t-shirt, navy or black shorts/tracksuit joggers and trainers for the whole day.

Reception – Wednesday

Year 1 – Monday & Wednesday

Year 2 – Wednesday & Thursday

Year 3 – Monday & Tuesday

Year 4 – Tuesday & Friday

Year 5 – Thursday

Year 6 – Tuesday & Thursday

 

Swimming from Monday 3 November 2025

Year 5 will continue to swim on Mondays

 

Admissions for Secondary School for September 2026

Reminder – applications for starting Secondary School September 2026 must be submitted online by 31 October 2025.

School Photographs with Focal Point

All children had their photographs taken in school by a professional photographer on Monday.  If you require a copy of the access code to view your child’s photographs, please contact the School Office.

 

Christmas updates

Look out for our Christmas dates and information once we return after the October half-term holiday.

 

 

Early Years News

Early Years have had a very positive first half-term. We have welcomed our new Reception children, and they have settled into routines and their new expectations very well.  We have made a very pleasing start with their Read, Write Inc phonics, with lots of children remembering all of the sounds taught so far. We have used this knowledge in early reading activities and also the early parts of our Ready Steady Write journey too.
We thoroughly enjoyed our first parent/carer session of ‘Stay and Read’ too. The children loved showing parents/carers their phonics skills, as well as showing them their classrooms and the outdoor area.  We would like to thank all of the families that joined us and supported the event.
Reception were also very pleased to join in the Harvest Festival assembly.  We learned our own Harvest song of ‘Big Red Combine Harvester’.  We were very proud of the children in their first whole school assembly.
Nursery have also settled very well into their learning, and we are very pleased with the start they have made to this school year.  They have had lots of fun, and are enjoying welcome times, group times and making new relationships.  Nursery held their first parent/carer ‘Stay and Read’ sessions.  The children enjoyed hearing ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and engaging with lots of reading activities linked to the story.
We are looking forward to the next half-term with more parent/carer events, as well as Christmas, of course!

Key Stage One News

Year 1 have made a wonderful start to the school year and have settled into their new routines beautifully. In English, the children have been exploring the story ‘Old Bear’ and using it to inspire their own writing. In Maths, they have been practising counting to 100. They have also been investigating the composition of numbers to 10 as well as learning doubles to 10. In Art, they have been looking at the work of the Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami, where they have been exploring the primary colours and what happens when you mix them. 
 
Year 2 have started their new school year brilliantly and full of enthusiasm! The children are enjoying our English text ‘A River’ and have written some wonderful narratives. In Maths, they have worked hard when learning about multiples of ten and they are using Times Tables Rockstars regularly. The Great Fire of London has been a big hit in History. In PE, the children have been exploring a range of movement through our Dance unit. 

 

 

Times Tables

Welcome back to a new year of Times Table Rockstars (TTRS) and therefore a new year of tournaments and celebrations! All children from Year Two to Year Six have a Times Table Rockstars username and password which they can use to access their very own tailored times table games. We strongly encourage children to access TTRS for at least 30 minutes per week. Doing so, in short bursts across the week, will really help to support your children in developing and embedding their knowledge of times table facts – a key foundation to many areas of maths! Successes will continue to be celebrated in individual classrooms and in our Friday celebration assemblies!  Please continue to encourage your child to access the games weekly and challenge themselves to increase their knowledge and speed. Ask your child to share their heat map with you. How many speedy green facts do they have? Please speak to your child’s class teacher if you require any information about TTRS.

 

Climate Crew

It has been wonderful to welcome our new Climate Crew this year who have been full of enthusiasm and fantastic ideas about how we can take our Climate Agenda forward. We have lots of activities planned which form our Action Plan and our first meeting went brilliantly. The Crew enjoyed a workshop with Lydia from Groundworks around the importance of their role and explored the fascinating world of our oceans with Georgina from ‘The Sea We See’.  Georgina ran an interactive session that covered the 7 Ocean Science principles aligned to the UNESCO policy on Ocean Literacy. Well done, Climate Crew! 

Play Leaders

The applications for Play Leaders have been outstanding, and it has been really difficult to select this year’s Play Leaders. We can’t wait to see them all in their new roles helping other children during lunchtime in the schoolyard. Well done!

 

Sports News

What an action-packed half-term we have had!

Year 4/5 Girl’s Football

We were very proud of the group of girls who represented our school at Swalwell FC earlier this term. Both of the teams played very well showing skill and determination. Both teams came third. Our Year 5/6 girls get the opportunity for football practice every Wednesday lunch time with Coach Charlie.

Year 5/6 Boy’s Football

What a great start to the season! We had a team of Year 6 boys take part in the preliminary round of the Durham County SFA Cup. They played brilliantly and came third.  More recently, we had a team of Year 5/6 boys take part in the first round of the Blaydon and District League. They did not lose a game and are currently at the top of their group with 9 points!

KS2 Cross Country

Well done to all of our KS2 Cross Country runners who recently took part in an event at Watergate Park. Despite the rainy weather, they showed grit, determination and resilience during their races. Thank you to parents and carers who came to support.

Key Stage 1 Indoor Athletics

Some of our Year 2 children spent the afternoon at Gateshead Stadium. The carousel of activities involved throwing, skipping, running and jumping. One of our team members received a special certificate for being the Hurdles Champion. As always, the children were a credit to our school

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