Dunston News – 26.03.26

Mar 26, 2026Latest News

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”

T. S. Eliot

Message From Mr Sutherland

We are beginning to move towards the end of our spring term, with a reminder that our last day of school before the Easter holidays is next Thursday, April 2nd, 2026.  Although is has been quite a short half-term, as always it has been packed full of teaching and learning opportunities for our wonderful children as well as some exciting events for our whole community.

I absolutely loved our World Book Day celebration at the beginning of March and I hope your children did too.  We had such wonderful outcomes right across the school which came from staff sharing their favourite books with different groups of children that they perhaps would not usually work with.  Everyone was involved and my thanks go to all our staff who designed exciting and engaging sessions for their own particular books with such creative elements.  It was a wonderful morning and there was a real buzz around our school (as well as lots of glue and glitter!!).

Happy “Red Nose Day” for last Friday and thank you all so much for your engagement and your contributions!  As some of you will have seen, I went for the voluminous red hair, bow tie and red nose look but hopefully I was still “as smart as a dart”.  We had a fabulous day and our Celebration Assembly at the end of the afternoon was definitely a sight to behold.  Please check out some of the photos on our Facebook page if you are able to.

Earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to attend The Glasshouse with some of our children – our girls who work with Happy Feet after-school club, as well as our boy street dancers.  Wow!  Both groups were amazing with high quality choreography, boundless energy and enthusiasm and they really seized their opportunity to shine.  The girls took us “Into the Unknown” and the Dunston Boyz rounded off the show with a rousing celebration of everything Newcastle – complete with NUFC shirts.  Both were fantastic!  This occasion is a wonderful example of children having an opportunity to experience things that they may not usually experience – in this case, performing on a big stage with a professional crew.  The Glasshouse is a fabulous venue and the fact that we are able to give our children exposure to events such as these I believe speaks volumes about our commitment to a wide variety of artistic endeavours.  Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended – I know from speaking to many of you just what it means to your children and to you to participate; such a positive experience.

We have rounded the term off with our new initiative – Easter Craft sessions for every year group, which have been really well attended and I hope you have enjoyed coming into school as much as the children have loved seeing you.  I realise that events during the day can be challenging for some parents and carers because of work commitments and we have tried to give you as much notice as possible in order to facilitate this.  I do appreciate your feedback, however, and you have my assurance that we are continually looking at ways to involve as many parents and carers as we can moving forward.

After the Easter break we move into summer term with lots of exciting things in store so please make sure you regularly check emails, our website and calendar, our Facebook page and this newsletter for up to the minute information.  Your support means everything to us and we thank you for helping us make Dunston Hill Community Primary School the very special place that it is.

Have a wonderful Easter break with family and friends.  We will see you back for the start of summer term on Monday 20th April at the usual times.

 

Best wishes

Whole School Information

Comic Relief

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to Red Nose Day on Friday 20 March. We raised £229.40. Everyone looked fabulous with their funky hair styles. Well done, everyone!

World Book Day

Beyond our special morning in school, where the children took part in two craft-based workshops of their choice (designed around a text), our Years 4, 5 and 6 children were lucky enough to visit Waterstones at the Metro Centre. In store, they listened to a story, completed a ‘World Book Day Fact or Fiction Quiz’ and wrote their own reviews of books they love, and wanted to recommend to shoppers! These reviews are displayed around the chidren’s section in store so if you make a visit over the Easter Holidays, keep your eyes peeled! The children were a credit to Dunston Hill!

 

British Science Week

We enjoyed a wonderful British Science Week earlier this half-term. The theme was ‘Curiosity: What is your question?’ so we had a fun-filled week of investigation using scientific inquiry to answer some very important questions. Questions such as, ‘Which biscuit is best for dunking?’, ‘Which paper aeroplane design is the best in flight?’, ‘Does toast always land butter side down?’.  The children had a fantastic week – thank you to our staff for making British Science Week a success.

Easter Craft Sessions

We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our parents and carers who were able to join us for our Easter Craft sessions – it was wonderful to see so many of you there and to share such a lovely time together.

We are really looking forward to welcoming our Nursery and Reception families to their sessions next week!

 

Reception Mystery Readers

We would like to thank all family members who have signed up to be a Mystery Reader in Reception so far, and to those who have already been in to surprise us with stories.  The children love finding out who has come to read to them, and they have really enjoyed hearing new stories from new authors. We can’t wait to find out who will be coming next!

Family Learning

Details of our Family Learning for the Summer Term 1 will be emailed to parents/carers on Monday.

Family Forest

We’re delighted to let you know that Family Forest will continue on Tuesdays at 2:00pm next half-term.  Please book a place using Arbor from Monday.  We look forward to seeing you there!

 

First Words Together 
Our First Words Together programme has brought families and little ones together to explore early language skills in a fun, supportive and nurturing
environment. Everyone had a wonderful time!

 

Toddlers

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

 

Forest School, PE and swimming information will follow next week.  

 

Events to look forward to…

Year 6 SATs – week commencing 11 May 2026.

Year 5 SafetyWorks educational visit – 19 May 2026

Year 2 HMS Trincomalee educational visit – 14 May 2026

Nursery Stay and Write parent/carer sessions – Wednesday 20 May and Thursday 21 May 2026.

Reception Stay and Write parent/carer session – Friday 22 May 2026.

School Lunch

The menu for the week commencing Monday 30 March is Week 3.  School lunch cost £2.80 per day payable in advance using the school app Arbor.

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.

 

Arbor – Are You Missing Messages from School?

If you use our Arbor Parent App, please make sure you have in‑app messages enabled so you don’t miss important updates from school.

Keeping notifications switched on ensures you stay connected and up to date with everything happening in school.

To check your settings, simply follow the steps in the link below:

Parents not receiving push notifications – Arbor Help Centre

Lower Key Stage Two News

Year 3 have had a jam-packed term. They began by being budding historians handling a range of artefacts from the Ancient Egyptian times and finding out all about the importance of the River Nile, before then delving into a colder climatic zone and being Geographers finding out about Antarctica. Did you know there are a number of Research Stations in Antarctica that are named in honour of pioneering explorers, scientists and naval officers? In Art, the children have worked hard to mould their own papier mâché canopic jars and we’re sure you’ll agree the results are fabulous! DT has seen us beginning to find out about seasonal fruits and vegetables along with discovering where other food items come from. Look out for the culinary delights we will be making in the Summer Term!

What a half-term for Year 4! We cannot believe how quick, efficient and brave they’ve been at our first swimming lessons. Amanda, Katie and the team at the swimming baths have been very impressed. In History, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring artefacts from sites around Hadrian’s Wall and have enjoyed discussions about what they can tell us about the past.  In English, we have loved creating ‘twisted’ endings to traditional tales and we worked beautifully with the Year 1 children to read them different endings. British Science Week saw us investigating scientific ‘curious’ questions about how birds make their nests and we even had a go at making our own using our ‘beaks’ (clothes pegs). We’re really looking forward to our visit to Arbeia before the Easter Break – keep your eyes peeled for photos to come!

 

Upper Key Stage Two News

We have had a very busy half-term in Years 5 and 6 with lots to be proud of! Our Year 6 children have really enjoyed their writing lessons where they have continued to expore their new found love of Shakespeare by studying Macbeth – we have some very talented wordsmiths in Year 6! In addition to this, the children have been working incredibly hard in preparation for the upcoming SATs which are week beginning May 11 2026 (more details will follow for relevant parents/carers).
Our Year 5 children have had the privilege of working with Stuart on their musical skills where they have been studying the ‘Blues Genre’ of music. Additionally, it has been lovely to work with the children on creating their ‘Funny Fish’ in art, relaxing and letting our creativity flow!
Both year groups would like to thank parents and carers for their continual support and mention how lovely it was to see so many faces at our Easter Craft Workshops.

 

Times Tables

Our children are continuing to work hard in developing their speedy recall of multiplication facts to 12 x 12. These facts form one of the basic building blocks in maths and really support with many areas of the curriculum. Our aim is that by the end of the academic year, children should be able to:
Y2 – Skip count and know many table facts in the 2x, 5x, and 10x tables. 
Y3 – Recall facts in the 2x, 5x, 10x, 4x, 8x and 3x table.
Y4 – Recall all times table facts to 12 x 12 so: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x,10x, 11x and 12x.
Y5 and Y6 – Consolidate their knowledge of all times table facts and link these facts to prime and cubed numbers. 
Using Times Table Rockstars is a great way for children to rehearse and recall facts they have been learning in school so please continue to encourage your children to access this at home. Look out for the next school tournament coming up!

 

Climate Crew

Our wonderful Climate Crew have been busy cleaning the streets of Dunston recently. The children assembled at Dunston Park and met with Gateshead Council for a briefing. They worked super hard and cleaned up lots of rubbish. We even managed to re-purpose some things for our Forest School! The Climate Crew have also had a brilliant planning session with Alex from Northern Gas, in preparation for Earth Day after Easter. Everyone has been involved in creating a fantastic assembly that the whole school will enjoy. We are also looking forward to more workshops with Alex to raise our awareness around Global Warming. Well done, Climate Crew!

 

School Council 

The School Council have had a very busy half-term. They have had very important jobs to do: interviewing candidates for the new Headship and holding a whole school assembly focused on Children’s Mental Health Week. They have been given a great opportunity to work with the Daft as a Brush Charity, where they have been auditioning to be the voice of an advertising campaign, Luma Love Daft as A Brush.

 

Sports News

Dance Festival – On Tuesday, children from Years 1 to Year 6 participated in the Gateshead School’s Dance Festival at the Glasshouse. This year, the theme was inspiration and once again all of the children, who took part, were amazing!  Our ‘Dunston Boyz’ dance group closed the show and what a finale it was, dancing to songs by a range of local artists. Our Happy Feet dance group also did themselves proud with a fantastic routine with some impressive moves. As always, our children represented our school brilliantly!
Blaydon District League Football – We are delighted that we are currently first in our group within the league. We have our second round this Thursday at Winlaton West Lane and we are looking forward to it. Look out for our results!

 

SEND/Nurture 

Miss Tuart and Mrs Cox are offering a SEND and Nurture ‘coffee and catch up‘ on Thursday 7 May 2026, 9-10am in our Dunston Den.

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