This year the theme of the school entries was: Your Favourite Place In Stanhope. Each age category used a different media to create their favourite image of somewhere in Stanhope which was important to them. Every child entered the competition and all of the entries were considered by the judges. The results were as follows:

Class 211 – 5yrs and Under

First Place –

Second Place – Henry H.

Third Place – Sophia T.

Class 212 – 8Yrs and Under

First Place – Xavier G.

Second Place – Olivia S.

Third Place – Rosie W.

Class 213 – 12 yrs and Under

First Place – Georgia B.

Second Place – Freya R.

Third Place – Dailey E.

Certificates, rosettes and cups were awarded by Mr Myers in assembly. Well done to everyone who took part.

On Thursday 15^th June 2017, a team of eight players took part in the Kwick Cricket Tournament 2017 at Crook Cricket Club.

We had a lovely day for the event with over ten schools taking part. By the end of day we had come 5^th overall and the children were delighted with the result. Mrs Parvin was very proud of the children who were well behaved and displayed real sportsmanship throughout the day, supporting and encouraging each other and the other teams who were taking part.

On Wednesday 14th June 2017, eight of our Year 6 children represented the school at the Quad Kids Festival at Shildon Athletics Track. We entered a team of four girls and a team of four boys who took part in four events. The events included: the long jump, 600m run, the sprint and a throwing event.

Our children did extremely well, with three children qualifying for the County Trials later in the year.

Many thanks to Annabel Gascoigne and Claire Emerson for taking the children. Without parent support our children would miss out on special opportunities such as this.

Throughout this year, Class 3 have attended Wolsingham Library for a series of Literacy Masterclasses. These have included working with: Circamania, an illustrator, an author, a performance poet and a storyteller. Our last session was with Jake the Storyteller and the children thoroughly enjoyed the stories he told.

The sessions have been organised by Durham County Council Arts Department and are funded through the WAP (Weardale Action Partnership). The workshops have been invaluable in helping children to understand that writing can be fun and to stimulate their imaginations and creativity. In addition, the children have been interested to learn about the range of careers associated with literacy – not everyone is an author!

Feedback from the children has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope to support a similar programme of workshops again next year.

On Thursday 8^th June 2017 our Year 6 children visited Durham City with Mr Myers and Mrs McArdle. When they arrived they went shopping! The boys visited sports shops and games shops with Mr Myers, while Mrs McArdle and the girls visited Claire’s Accessories and clothes shops. After a picnic lunch they headed to Durham Cathedral for the annual Leaver’s Service. This year the format had been changed and a range of workshops and prayer space activities were arranged around the Cathedral. Children then rotated through the activities which they really enjoyed. Six children were chosen to carry the school banner down the aisle for the final procession. Lauren, Elizabeth, Lucas, Maddison, Hayden and Sam were delighted to be chosen for the honour of carrying the banner.

The children had a lovely day out and as always, were exceptionally well behaved and a real credit to our school. We will miss them all dreadfully when they leave us in July.

On Monday 5th June the whole school travelled into space! We had a visiting inflatable planetarium in the school hall and every class had a session inside it. The sessions were run by Gary Lintern who had put a great deal of effort into the planning of the sessions. There were visual effects, sound effects and of course a galaxy of stars. The children had a fantastic time and the event really sparked their imaginations.

On Monday 22nd May 2017, Class 3 took part in a tennis festival at Willington Parkside.

They had a great time, scoring over 2,000 points for our school. The teams rotated through 8 different challenges which tested their balance, ball control and racquet skills. As always, our children were perfectly behaved and a real credit to the school.