Just a quick note to all parents regarding SATs. They commence week beginning 10th May and the children are tested in Maths and Literacy, the Science test has been stopped. All children have been given study guides and levelled revision books to help with their homework and practice papers. It is very important that children complete all homework set as it will be of great benfit when SATs come around. If parents have any questions regarding SATs please feel free to make an appointment to see Mr Connor. Thanks!

The SATs are over for another year. The children in Year 6 have worked extremely hard all week and indeed all year, and all tried their very best, which is all we could have asked of them. We had an indoor "barbeque" on Friday afternoon to celebrate the end of SATs! Well done to everyone, no matter what the results are! Mr Connor.

Just to let everyone know that all our Year 6s are working extremely hard at the minute in preparation for the upcoming SATs. They are during the week beginning 11th May and we are sure that they will all do the very best that they possibly can! Keep up the good work! Mr Connor.

A select group of Year 5/6 children were recently chosen by Mr Connor to take part in The National Primary Mathematics Challenge. This is a nationwide challenge (including Scotland, Wales and Ireland) with children aged 9-11 taking part in a variety of Mathematical Challenges aimed at finding the who's who of Mathemticians in the country!! The tests have been taken and are currently being marked and processed. More information to follow. Well done in advance to all those who took part.

It's "KICK RACISM OUT OF FOOTBALL" week! Just to let everyone know that Year 5/6 have been taking part in a poetry competition organised by the "Newcastle United in the Community" project. We have been researching racism in football and all the children wrote a poem based on our research and the aim of kicking racism out of football. The winner will be chosen in the next few days and the poem will be posetd on here, it will then go on to be judged against poems by other children in a variety of Gateshead schools; with the winning poem being read aloud in front of 52 000 people at St James' Park!! Watch this space!!

Just a big thank you to all parents who came to the Year 5/6 aasembly a few weeks ago. The children did really well and managed to remember all their lines! We had some great acting, with Konnor Kirby doing a great Mr Connor, Nicole Waggitt impersonating Miss Brand, and finally Courteney Harding acting as a great Ms Gofton! A great performance by everyone, well done.

The Y6 SATs are taking place in the week beginning May 12th 2008. All Y6 children are currently working very hard towards the SATs and are hoping to do their best when the time arrives.
Parents can help by ensuring that their children are completing all of their homework and spending some time reading their study books.
On the week of the SATs free breakfasts will be on offer to all Y6 children.

Raging Windows

“Ugh, this place gives me the hibbie-jibbies!” said 13-year-old Alex Tylor to her twin sister Ashley.

“True, but we have to try new things like mum would say,” Ashley commented.

“Ashley?” asked Alex.

“Yeah?” replied Ashley.

“I’m sure that window just changed position!”

“No it never, that’s impossible.”

Ashley was not a very adventurous person. She had long, flowing, curly, auburn hair, perfect manicured nails and pretty make up with her rosy cheeks. As for Alex she had short brown hair, bitten nails and tanned skin.

BANG!!! The doors slammed shut and they were trapped.

Ashley flopped down on the old rotten pew. She looked around. The walls were sprawling with moss crawling up the walls. A brick was stamped with a date. Alex ran over to it. She pressed her cold fingers over the date; it dated back to 1821. How would they get out?

Suddenly there was a banging, the sound of a car door.

“We’re saved!” cried Ashley,
“Freedom!” shrieked Alex.

They ran over to the door but it wouldn’t budge.

“We’re all going to die I wish we hadn’t come here. What did we even come here for?” asked Ashley getting annoyed.

“We are here to find that ring that belonged to the Greek god, Zeus.”

“If we we’re gods were would we want to be burried?” asked Ashley.

“In a coffin,” Alex said “so it will be that one in the corner with the dead candles on it!”

The coffin in the corner was an old marble box with black diamonds on it. There was the name, Zeus. That was it. They slowly opened the coffin. There it was placed in the middle of the tomb.

The rain pelted down the window whilst Ashley tried the ring on. There was a rush of wind, like fingers through Ashley’s hair. Suddenly lots of movement came from the windows and the cross created a super-sonic tornado. It slashed through the remaining pews sending bits of soft wood flying everywhere. They legged it to the back of the church, and tried to open the doors.

A little ghost girl was glaring at them whilst carrying a killer ruby balloon. “Well then? What are you waiting for?” shrieked the little girl. “ATTACK THEM!!”

Ghosts of every description flew out of the windows, swooping down to their mistress’ side. They were carrying weapons of every type, axes, swords, guns and knives as if they were part of a pirate crew of doom.

“So what were you thinking? Gimme back my ring,” yelled the little girl. “NOW before I get angry.” She never talked in a human manner (because she was a ghost) she always shouted.

“Well…Well… it’s like this. Oh Ashley I can’t tell her you might have to!” Alex stuttered.

“Umm Well…RUN ALEX RUN!!!” Ashley screamed grabbing an axe from the floor.

Hitting her on the head, the little girl slowly fell to the ground and slid through it.
“The ring must have a god,” The ghost army chanted over and over again. God. Did she hear properly? God. Ashley screamed. She didn’t know what to do. Ghosts surrounded her chanting her name. Then it hit her she was to become the god. She hadn’t realised it before. How was she getting out of this one?

“NNNOOO!!” Screamed Ashley.

“AAASSSHHHLLLEEEYYY!!!” Alex bounded over shrieking but failing to save her beloved sister.

Chuckling, the ghost picked Ashley up and took her to the coffin, which she had originally opened. She was dead.

“Ashley…” Alex said in a faint whisper.

“ALEX!!!…ASHLEY!!!” Alex’s best friend Shannon screamed. Barging through the door, Shannon ran over hugging her.

“Where’s Ashley?” asked Shannon suspiciously. Alex pointed to the coffin, that had now turned pink, surrounded by roses with opal stones carved into angels.

“Come on your mum is wondering where you are.” Shannon said putting her arm round Alex.

And once again, the doors shut behind them…

By Ashleigh Johnston Y6

The Torture House
This is a story you’ll never forget; this is my life story in a 3rd person version. I’ll cut all the chit-chat and tell you the story now.

THUMP! A baby chevaun fell to the ground. Chevauns are like horses but chevauns are more valuable and can be any colour. It was Christmas day. The snow was falling and everyone was happy. The same day a baby chevaun, who was dark green with a brown mane and tail, was taken away from his very sick mother at birth. His mother sadly passed away soon after the baby chevaun was born, as she didn’t have the strength to live. Every night, two horse like creatures kept going in there and giving him food.

His owner was an evil man. He wanted a girl chevaun. He had a vicious dog that also hated the little chevaun.

Many times this chevaun tried to escape but all he got was a very hard wallop with a whip a lion tamer would use. All this chevaun with no name wanted was a taste of freedom. The little chevaun sighed sadly”, I wish I was free and had a name,”
He wondered if his dream would ever come true.

One dark, rainy, miserable winters evening the chevaun’s owner, Jack, had a horrendous day at work. He stormed into the chevaun’s stable.

BANG! Jack slammed the door angrily. The knives in the stables rattled too much to be comfortable with, fell to the ground barely missing the chevaun. Then his dog, Rex, and he bit the chevaun badly several times.

When he left the chevaun said, ” He usually only beats me up for 1 hour not 2!”

That night the little chevaun lay down. He thought, “Everything will be ok!” The chevaun knew he’d be ok; he’d been through that before. He did feel agonising pain all around his body, but he knew he’d make it through the night.

A few weeks later and the chevauns health got worse and worse. One day Jack was really sick of having the chevaun around so he took him to a cliff. It wasn’t just any cliff it was the tallest cliff in the country. At the bottom of the cliff there was a river full of crocodiles.

Jack got a tiny head collar and put it on the chevaun and then got a lead rope.

“I’m going to get rid of you once and for all!” Jack hissed angrily.

He lead him to the cliff, he wanted the chevaun to fall off.

“Come get the carrot boy! Come on!” Jack said, trying to bribe the chevaun to follow the carrot and fall off the cliff. Once the carrot was over the cliff’s edge, the chevaun had nothing to do with it.

The chevaun laughed. “Bring it on! I never knew humans were so stupid; I’m bigger and stronger so he can’t push me off. I’ll never go over that cliff edge.”

He ran away from Jack. Then Jack puffed “”I’m going to have to push you off this cliff!”

The chevaun kept on running away. Jack grabbed the lead rope and pulled. He got his German Shepard, Rex, to help him. The chevaun flung his head back in attempt to get Jack to drop the lead rope. Instead Rex went flying over the cliff edge.

“You killed my dog you beast!” Jack shouted. Jack grabbed his lion tamer whip.

Fighting and whipping the chevaun long and hard, finally Jack got really tired. The chevaun gave one last shove. Suddenly Jack toppled over the cliff edge falling in a lake full of crocodiles.

“Oh No!” The chevaun thought in his head” What should I do? I could go home and wait for the RSPCA to come or stay here and try fending for myself. URGHH I’m so confused!” The chevaun was hungry, scared and alone. He felt a raindrop past him with a little bit touching him. It made his spine tingle.

Suddenly, a pack of hungry vicious wolves wanted some chevaun for dinner. They were frothing at the moth and growling loudly. The wolves were nearly as skinny as the chevaun.

The chevaun sprinted through the thick mud with the wolves closely behind him. He went faster ‘til he couldn’t see the wolves anymore. There was two-way turn. He galloped to the turn. He swiftly turned right. There was an amazing lake there. The rain poured. He didn’t care he ran to it and drank. He felt much better to quench his thirst.

The wolves ran but turned left and they ended falling off the cliff too.

The chevaun lay in the mud. Then he started to fell dizzy.” URGH I don’t feel so good!”

THUMP! The chevaun fainted. He was so skinny many passers by thought the chevaun died of starvation. Many passers by would say,” URGH! They should really clean up them dead bodies!”
Was the chevaun really dead? Or was he alive?

When the chevaun woke up he heard voices “Hey! Hey! Are you ok?”

“Urghhh! What happened?” The chevaun asked.

“Well you got the wolves away, then you sort of fainted,” one chevaun said.

One chevaun, Storm the leader, was orange with a yellow mane and tail and a blaze down his face. He had beautiful brown eyes and his hooves where perfectly white. He loved adventures and was really brave

The other chevaun, Neon, was black and green. He had a blend pattern and the only male chevaun with the blend pattern. He preferred running to adventures but he was brave, although he didn’t think it.

“Hey what’s your name? “ Neon asked.

“Actually,” the chevaun said, “I don’t have a name.”

“Well that’s a darn shame,” Storm comforted the chevaun.

” When’s your birthday? Just so we have an idea for your name.”

“Well my birthday is on Christmas day,” The chevaun said.
“How about Santa’s little helper?” Neon suggested.

“Don’t be so stupid!” Storm shouted, “that isn’t a good name!”

“Do you like it?” Neon asked.

“Yeah!” Santa’s Little Helper said.

“Come on!” Storm said brightly,” Lets go for a walk by the cliff!”

They reached the cliff. It was really windy and it was very dangerous. The crocodiles licked their lips when they saw the three chevaun.
“Ignore them scaly green idiots,” Storm said,” there nothing but trouble.”

“I’m starting to get a bit tired,” Santa’s little Helper, said wearily.

“Ok then lets go you need your strength before we do this again.”

“When we get back Santa try wash some of that blood off.” Storm said sternly.

When Santa got back he was to tired and lay down and went to sleep, not washing any blood off.

The next morning, when Storm and Neon went for a graze, Santa’s Little Helper jumped into the freezing pond.
“Huh?” he said very confused,” some of the blood isn’t coming off!”

Storm and Neon appeared through a bush.

“I heard the blood won’t come off you Santa,” Storm said.

“It actually looks like a really cool pattern not like blood at all!” Neon said.

“Can we see your place?” Strom and Neon asked.

“Yeah!” Santa’s Little Helper said happily.

They travelled for a while but only to find a horrific sight.
The stables were up in flames.

“Come on lets just go home,” Santa’s Little Helper said very sadly.

They arrived at the pond. “Sorry Santa I really am,” Storm said.

“It OK!” Santa replied,” I didn’t really like the place anyway,”
Storm and Neon talked for a bit the nodded.

“Well if you want we’ll take you to an RSPCA centre but I would like you to stay here but you can choose,” Storm said.

“I like it here!” Santa’s Little Helper said.

Suddenly a giant phoenix flew down.

“Watch Out!” Santa shouted.

“Hi Sam!” Neon said brightly.

“Hi Neon, Storm well I’m a busy bee, got to go!”

I know my life’s been hard, but it’s all paid off! I’m still good friends with Neon and Storm. I’m an also really good friend with Sam too! My burnt place became a wildlife vets. My life is perfect! Well I have to go Bye People. I’ll be back!

By Ailish Beat

Crum the Elf

“SILENCE” shouted Randalf and all of the elves went quiet. “I need someone to search for the enchanted ring!” ordered Randalf.Not one elf replied so Randalf asked again. “I’ll do it!” shouted Crum. The other elves started to laugh.

“Remember that this isn’t any normal ring it’s magic,” Randalf whispered to Crum.

He replied back, “I’ll do my best.”

“Here you might need this on the way.” Randalf gave him the map.

Crum left the elf stronghold. He walked past a river, He checked on the map and it said Monrock River. Then a strong force of wind struck the map and he let go. It glided into river Monrock like a bird. Crum panicked then he heard drums in the distance getting closer and closer to him. Crum seen the Lordor army coming towards him so he ran for his life and never stopped until he reached a cave. He stayed there for the night.

The next morning Crum set of with his sword. He saw the Lordor army again “When do they ever stop?” Crum whispered to himself. They shot a sleeper arrow at Crum and they took him to a jail in the shattered creek. He used his sword to kill the guard and he swiped the keys. Crum found some gilded armour and he escaped from the shattered creek. Unfortunately the Lordor army saw Crum.

He ran to the cave but they were catching up to him. Suddenly, this old man appeared and had the ring. “Will you give me that ring?” asked Crum.
“Yes” replied the old man. The old man told Crum how to teleport home. He used the spell memose maxima and he teleported to the elf stronghold.

Meanwhile the Lordor army marched to war…


By Martin Summersett

The Quest of Jack and Hayley
BANG! An enormous crash came from outside the highly secured building. Hayley, who was busy trying to train Jack to become a talented spy like herself, told Jack, “If this day couldn’t possibly get any worse. Trying to train you and now this!”

“Excuse me! But I think I’m doing a pretty good job,” replied Jack, in an over confident voice.

Hayley answered, “Yeah, whatever. Now, I am going to go and check out what has happened, and you STAY HERE!”

“Why should I listen to her?” thought Jack to himself.
Instead of listening to a word Hayley said, he followed her. It was a big mistake! They were trapped.

Jack, who was starting to fret, began to say sarcastically, “Great! What a fantastic person to be stuck with.”

Beginning to get anxious quickly, Jack who was one of the bravest, yet stupidest spies, began to shriek, “Help! Help!”

“They won’t hear you. Ugh! All I can smell is sweat!” moaned Hayley, who was staring at Jack.
The punishing sun was now incinerating the highest point of the building and no breeze was coming from anywhere. SUDDENLY! Voices and the sound of marching could be heard. Meanwhile, Hayley was making an effort, unlike Jack, to think of a plan to get her and Jack out of the terrible mess they had got themselves into.

“Listen to me. Jack, Hayley. Master X has took over!” bellowed a robot loudly. “You are going to be given 1 clue for a chance to be released.”

“Yes! There might be a way out of this disgusting room!” said Hayley happily.

Wildly jumping about, Hayley and Jack were so pleased about the news they had just received.

“Your first clue is a code. Simple, but hard to crack. You have been given 1 chance, so use it wisely. Otherwise, you must suffer the consequences!” explained the robot, which has spoken to them before.

Hayley, who was now thinking she’d have to get there first, began to say, “Right. It’s obvious what it is. So, I’m going to do it.”

Before she had even noticed, Jack had already cracked the code. Slowly, they crept out. Hayley was busy squabbling then…without a warning…a creak came from behind them. Something! Someone was there! SUDDENLY! A gigantic army of robots cannoned round the corner! They did not have ant of idea. What were they to do?

“Quickly get in here!” Hayley whispered worriedly. They both scampered into the deserted room.
“This could give us a little more time to think of something. It’s obvious they have got spy 1. Now come on! Think of something!”

Jack, who was beginning to get even more worried, burst into a flood of tears.

Jack was afraid. He sat in a corner watching Hayley pacing back and forth. She was beginning to get angry and frustrated and was fretting badly. She got herself into an enormous mood, and then began to cry.

“Hey, don’t worry. We’ll find a way,” Jack told Hayley in a comforting voice.

Suddenly, a bang came from above them. A VENT! It was incredulously fantastic! They could easily reach it because the room wasn’t that high. Hayley gave Jack a boost and he pulled her up.

“WOW!” exclaimed Jack, “who are you?”

“I’m a spy, like yourself, and have come to give you a hand. Now follow me. We have a got a long way until we reach our destination,” replied an old, feeble man, in a hoarse voice.

Whey they eventually arrived, Master X had rearranged the computer system, so when spy1 had touched the lava, the world would be in his power.

“Ok, here’s what we are going to do,” Hayley explained.

Jack, who had to hide behind Master X, started to work on the computers and endeavour to reverse the change. Silently, Hayley gave up and Master X thought everything was going to plan. It was as that moment that Jack grabbed the Master and…threw him into the boiling lava.

“Wow!” bawled spy1, “you two make the finest team. In fact, I am going to promote you to my undercover agents.”

“Thank you so much. You too Jack. Everything you did was fantastic! You know what, I don’t know why I thought you were so bad?” said Hayley, happily.

“You’re not too bad yourself!”
Jack replied.

By Anna Cummins

"My teacher is called Mr Gardener, he has 4 jobs, he has worked in Shiny Row School, Thorney Close School and The Drive. He is the assistant Head Teacher for The Drive.

He was brought up in Penshaw, where he started his first school. Then he moved to a school called Shiny Row. His first comprehensive school was Shiny Row Comprehensive.

Mr Gardener has a sister called Carole and a son called Stuart. He is married to a lady called Dawn and has no pets."