Wellfield Middle School
October 2022
Dear Parents, Carers, Governors, Family and Friends
Curriculum
Maths
KS3 mathematicians have been bringing the maths ‘to life’, building the mathematics and drawing out the number patterns and structures. In Year 7, pupils have represented the place value of numbers using various representations and in Year 8, we have grown arithmetic and geometric sequences until we see a pattern forming.
Mrs Chambers
French
Year 5 have made an excellent start on their MFL journey at Wellfield. Their conversational skills are improving each week and they have impressed Madame Morgan with their enthusiasm and pronunciation so far.
Year 7 have been completing their extended piece of writing this half term and we have marked impressive pieces of work about themselves and their local heroes. They have used opinions, a range of nouns and varied their sentence structure. They have responded very well to feedback in order to improve their work. Joey Bell and James Ross did a great job at sitting in the ‘hot seat’ to plan our ideas for writing. See an excellent example of writing from Anya McDonald (7A) below:
A special mention to Eve Cockburn who made an excellent video as part of her French homework to prepare for our Spelling Bee competition. Our end goal is to spell out 50 words using the French alphabet.
Madame Morgan
Computing
As always with the beginning of the year, all year groups have had a focus around Digital Safety. This continues to be a key focus area in our school community and we are taking steps each year to improve our own digital footprint when it comes to educating ourselves, the pupils and our wider community.
KS3 have been looking at their own digital footprint, their use of social media and the negative effects it can have on their physical and mental health if not used safely. Our KS2 pupils have been learning about Email etiquette, as they begin to use them for the first time. We have been looking at phishing scams, secure passwords and how to be our best selves online.
We will be announcing parent assemblies for updates around Digital Safety and looking to have a dedicated area on our school webpage with weekly updates to keep our community as safe as possible when online.
Mr Dickinson
Art
In Art pupils have been working hard on a number of exciting projects.
Year 6 have successfully created a number of pieces of artwork, in varying mediums, as part of their project, Local Landscapes. Pupils have experienced working in pastel, pencil, watercolours and acrylic paint. They have analysed both local working artists and the work of great artist, Van Gogh. Many pupils have mastered painting in the style Van Gogh and all pupils should very proud of their wonderful outcomes.
Year 7 have been engrossed in our Body Adornment project. We have been investigating how tribal masks have tremendous importance in some African communities. Ms Whillis was particularly impressed with Venus’ African Mask design. Venus effectively used tone to create form.
We have also analysed the work of contemporary artist, Kenal Louis. We found the artists roots and links to African culture within his artwork very fitting to our adornment project as well as our celebration of Black History Month.
In Year 8, we have had an exciting start to our Sci-Fi project. Callum and Finlay’s love of Star Wars has spurred on various discussion around space, sci-fi genre movies and artwork. It was Callum that recommended the artist Ralph McQuarrie and as a result all Y8s have created concept art based on his style. Ms Whills has been impressed with the successful concept set designs and how well the pupils have used their knowledge of drawing and their imagination:
Mrs Whillis
Music
Year 5
Year 5 children are learning the trumpet in their music lessons. They are doing brilliantly and we are having a lot of fun playing together. We can play 2 notes so far and they are learning to read notation while performing. We also do a lot of singing and listening games during our weekly lesson.
Year 6
Pupils in year 6 have impressed Mrs Gibson with their expressive singing while learning about Englebert Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel. We are following a scheme provided by the Royal Opera House and we hope to showcase some of our work in January to parents and carers.
Year 7
Year 7 have been learning about Baroque music and learning to perform Pachelbel’s Canon as a whole class. They have been really successful in creating a whole class polyphonic performance on the keyboards. We are really looking forward to using Pachelbel’s Ground Bass to compose our own melodies next half term.
Year 8
Year 8 pupils have been learning about Reggae and learning how to play aspects of Three Little Birds on Ukulele and keyboard. They are building up from the bass riff to syncopated chords and then to the hook and vocals.
Mrs Gibson
Enrichment
Y6 High Borrans
Some of Y6 started the year with an adventure to High Borrans; what an amazing time they had from start to finish! Whether it was braving the underground caves, kayaking in the lake (and jumping in!) or ghyll scrambling the river each and every person showed resilience, team work and determination. The memories will last a lifetime!
Miss Stephenson
Science is Our Superpower
Some girls from Year 5 have been taking part in Science is our Supervisor, a year long scheme focusing on getting females into STEM. They have been lucky enough to visit Newcastle High School for Girls twice and have another 5 sessions across the year. The girls have enjoyed designing, making and testing racing cars, as well as learning about famous women scientists. We can’t wait to take part in computing, science, engineering and maths activities in the future!
Miss Ellenger
Geography Club
A selection of Year 7s and 8s have taken part in the first Geography Enrichment session. A Geography expert joined us as we plotted routes using six figure grid references and led each other across the school grounds. The children then getting creative by making their own 3D map. We are looking to take part in 5 more sessions across the year, aiming to get the children out and seeing our local area as much as possible!
Miss Ellenger
Scarecrow Festival
Our school choir attended a service at St Alban’s church on 18th September. They sang 2 songs on their own and they participated in the service by reading the bible and getting involved in the activities. They sang brilliantly and were excellent ambassadors for our school.
Mrs Gibson
Bring It On Careers Fair
On Wednesday the 12th October, a group of year 8 children spent the day at the 'Bring it On' STEM Career's Fair at the Beacon of Light in Sunderland. During the day, they had the opportunity to meet employers from around the North East and find out what they do. Each employer had an interactive display and challenges where pupils could immerse themselves in the world of STEM.
Mrs Davies
Wellbeing
Bee Keeping
Six lucky students have had the opportunity this half term to take part in Bee Keeping. They have donned Beekeeping suits to get up close with bees, made and painted hives and collected honey.
Mrs Fahey
Forest School
This year all pupils will have the opportunity to take part in Forest School sessions. This half term, it has been the turn of year 5 and 8. Year 5 have been getting to know the site better, particularly the trees. While year 8 have been refining their knot tying skills as well as developing their teamwork and communication.
After the holidays year 6 and 8 will have their opportunity. As the weather gets colder it is important that pupils come to school with their coat and if possible wellies or walking boots when they are taking part in Forest School as we do go outside in all weather.
Mrs Fahey
World Mental Health Day: Hello Yellow
To mark World Mental Health Day pupils and staff came to school with a splash of yellow on. The theme for the day was ‘How you feel matters’ and students took part in activities during form time to reflect on how they can support their own wellbeing as well as considering how they can make others feel better.
Mrs Fahey
Harvest Donation
Pupils dropped off food collected at the Harvest Festival at the Bay Food bank. They were very well received. Thank you for all your kind donations.