8 Year 10 pupils attended a Climate Change Rally in London this week. During the visit, they met the three Newcastle City MPs (Catherine McKinnell, Nick Brown and Chi Onwurah) and were able to lobby them on behalf of CAFOD on the importance of addressing climate change to preserve the future of the planet.  The students enjoyed a tour of the Houses of Parliament, and were invited onto the balcony at Westminster, on the banks of the Thames, to talk over the issue with Nick Brown.  And, as a bonus, and the highlight of their day, the students got their picture taken with Ed Miliband in Westminster Hall!  A great day out was had by all and the pupils were an absolute credit to their Year group and the entire school.

Mrs Shields and Mr O’Connell

St Mary’s students enjoyed another successful visit to the Minors City Athletics Championship at Gateshead Stadium on 4^th June. Eighteen students attended the competition and participated in a range of events from 100m to Shot Putt. All of the students performed fantastically well and there were some excellent individual performances. Eight of the students finished in the top four for their event and have qualified for the County Championships at Gateshead Stadium on Saturday 27^th June. Standout performances were from  Josh Collinson (Year 7) who finished 1^st in the 200m and second in the 800m. Similarly, in Year 8, Ross Ward also qualified for two events at the County Championships, finishing in first place in both the 100m and 200m.  The results were as follows:

Well done to all the boys who participated in this event.

Mr Maughan

All parents and students are invited to a performance of ‘Kindertransport’ on Thursday 18th June at 6pm in the Main Hall.

Kindertransport is a play set during World War Two and follows a Jewish girl who leaves her family in Germany to live with a family in England. The sixth form students have been working hard on this since February, cutting and editing the script themselves and they would love as many people as possible to come and see the fruits of their labour! The performance is open to family and friends too, so please feel free to bring any guests along.

The performance is just under an hour long and starts at 6pm.

Tickets are free from the Finance Office.

Miss Stearman (Head of Drama)

St Mary’s took part in the Northumbria Schools Hardball Cricket Festival today. The school’s two teams took on St Cuthbert’s, with the Year 7 team up first to play. St Cuthbert’s won the toss and opened the batting, but were limited early on by Jack Pilling and Muizz Sheikh. St Cuthbert’s batted well and managed to make a total of 98 runs from their 12 overs. St Mary’s began well, but some good bowling removed Hashim Ali, Jake Davison and Jonjo Block. Despite strong play from Jack Pilling and Luke Ashcroft, St Cuthbert’s were comfortable winners by 54 runs.

The Year 8 team from St Mary’s won the toss and decided to bowl first. Ross Ward and Shazhib Saleem bowled brilliantly early on. St Cuthbert’s scored heavily in the middle part of their innings, but Ross returned to take a wicket in the last over. St Cuthbert’s finished on 102. Matthew Brown and Shazhib opened the batting for St Mary’s, and Matthew started well with some powerful hitting. Both were eventually bowled out, but their replacements, Tobin Togy and Ross Ward, formed a good partnership. Ross retired on a well-made 33* and Tobin followed shortly after for 16*. Unfortunately, wickets began to tumble as the run-rate climbed and, with the lower-order batsmen having too much to do, St Mary’s eventually lost by 19 runs.

Both teams acquitted themselves well throughout the day and were a pleasure to supervise.

The students involved were:

Year 7s: Jack Pilling, Muizz Sheikh, Luke Ashcroft, Mohammed Din, Jake Davison, Jonjo Block, Sam Lievesley, Pawan Martin, John Carr, Hashim Ali and Will Campbell.

Year 8s: Tobin Togy, Ross Ward, Shazhib Saleem, Asif Khan, Matthew Brown, Ghulam Mustafa, Lovedeep Sadhra, Charlie Kain, Nadi Ahmed, Isaac Kain and Tomass Prado.
Mr Hook and Mr Bone

Our Summer extra-curricular sports clubs timetable is now available to view, please click here for further details of activities for all students!

Students from Year 7 to 13 took us back to the 1950s with their feel-good production of Grease before half term. Students worked incredibly hard to put together an energetic, funny and dynamic performance of the well loved musical. Students willingly attended rehearsals after school and at weekends to prepare for this and we would like to thank them for their dedication and enthusiasm. As well as having fun, students developed their knowledge of stagecraft, working together across the different year groups and they had the opportunity to develop their skills as performers.

The musical brought together many different departments; Performing Arts, Music, Art and Design and Technology who all worked hard to bring the students hard work together. Live music accompanied the show performed by a talented group of musicians made up of staff and students. The audience were surprised with a cameo performance from some of the staff which went down very well each night!

Everyone is looking forward to getting started again ready for next year’s whole school musical!

Miss Stearman (Head of Drama)

GCSE History students in Year 10 travelled to the First World War Battlefields of Belgium and France in February 2015. Students visited battlefields, memorials and cemeteries in the Ypres Salient area of Belgium, as well as visiting notable sights in the Somme area of France.  Students also laid a wreath as part of the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. It proved a memorable and very moving visit for students and staff and was particularly significant as it took place during the centenary commemorations of the Great War.  The students were an absolute credit to their families and our school.  This visit will be led annually in the spring term for Year 10 students who are studying GCSE History.