The children in Reception class and Year 3 have been taking part in a peer massage programme, working with Lynne Munroe. This programme is designed to help children develop an understanding of respecting themselves and other people and also about having the time to be calm in the classroom. The children all have a partner to work with during the sessions which they have really enjoyed doing. The children will keep the same partner and after Lynne's visits the programme will be carrying on. The children have worked very hard and have obviously enjoyed learning all the different techniques as it is something they are often talking about.

The children in Year 4/5 have been working hard over a few weeks now on a playground buddy scheme. They have been talking about the skills a buddy needs to have and what skills they think they would be able to contribute. The buddies will be trained how to play games and they will play them with the children at playtime on the yard. Recognition will be made of those children who have been particularly successful as a buddy. The buddies will start these games after Easter.

On Thursday 11th December the school choir went along to Tescos to entertain the Christmas shoppers with some traditional carols. The children had worked very hard for this event and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Also, the shoppers enjoyed listening to them and were very supportive of the children's efforts. The children are very keen to keep the choir up and running to do the same event next Christmas.

Miss Dixon

The school is taking part in the Morrisons Let's Grow campaign. From the 15th September until 6th November, all Morrisons stores across the country will be issuing a Let's Grow voucher for every £10 spent in store. These can then be collected and exchanged for gardening equipment which will be used in school. We are very grateful for all the vouchers that have been received so far and we'd like to get as many as possible before the end of the campaign. Keep them coming and we will be able to get some great equipment for our children to use outside.
The website for more information on this great campaign is:

www.morrisons.co.uk/letsgrow

Miss Dixon

Mrs Henaghan and Mrs Smith are now running the Netball club on a Tuesday. The club is open to anyone in KS2 and we were hoping to get a team together to compete in local tournaments.

We have some very enthusiastic members already but unfortunately do not have enough to make a team. If you'd like to join us for a match please come along on a Tuesday lunchtime to Mrs Henaghan's classroom for our weekly practise session.

(Please note until further notice, our practise time has changed from Tuesday evening to Tuesday lunchtime)

Pick up a form from the office if you'd like to come along!
We look forward to seeing you,

Thanks
Netball Club

The Drama Club is now up and running again and is working hard towards a Christmas production. It is called 'Carry on Christmas'. We have 16 people taking part and they are all very enthusiastic about our club and are working hard.All the children in the club now have a part in our production. Many thanks to all the children for working so hard.

Mrs Douglas, Miss Dixon and Lucy Wyles

Dance Club has started well with a huge intake of over twenty children, all of which are highly enthusiastic and ready to 'rock N roll'. We have started a contemporary dance to the song ‘Beat it’ by Michael Jackson. This week we are very lucky to have some of the older members choreograph and teach the next part of the dance. I hope that we will be able to perform this dance and others to the rest of the school and parents. A great start!

Once again we have been asked by the children to have a Halloween Disco. It's the first opportunity for the children to let off steam after the start of the new school year and also the first after school event for the new reception children. It is always well attended and also provides a very safe environment for the children to enjoy Halloween. This year Halloween is on the Friday of the childrens half term holiday, however we have decided we could still have a disco for them the first day back at school which would be on Monday 3rd November. So keep those costumes and get your moneys worth out of them this year! As always there will be plenty of refreshments on sale and prizes for the best costumes.
Watch out for posters around school with more information!
<em>I would be very grateful to any parents who could help as we have no Parents Association any more there is only one parent who always comes in to help and we would very much like to involve more parents in activities for the children.

"ChildLine 0800 1111 is the UK and Channel Islands' FREE confidential 24 hour helpline for children and young people who need to talk. From homework to bullying and abuse, whatever the problem, whenever it is, you can always speak to us"

On Sunday 16th March 2008 five children from The Drive's running club took part in the Sport Relief Mile at Saltwell Park Gateshead. Despite it being a freezing cold day, all of the children had a great time and managed to raise money for Sport Relief. The exact amount raised is not yet known - Watch this space!!
They also met Jonathan Edwards, the Olympic silver medallist in the triple jump, as well as a very tall cricketer.

The school Netball team took part in a cluster tournament at Heworth Grange this half term. The girls played excently and prooved themselves to be highly skilled! The two teams played against teams from two other schools and came third out of five. The star of the show had to be Courtney Harding who scored an amazing goal! Well done Courtney!

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.

I am sure you all enjoyed pancake day. Well, fear not, you do not have to wait until next year to enjoy them again.
During half term I will be going to France and as we have our link with the school in Bordeaux through the Comenius Project I thought it might be nice to try French Pancakes, which are called Crepe.
The PTA will be helping me to sell these on Friday 29th February (after lunch of course). They will cost 50p and will be available with sucre,citron, fraise or chocolat topping. Now all you have to do is find out what those toppings are and have your money ready!
Bon vacance et a bientot
Mrs Douglas

We have recently started a new parent teachers association (PTA). The aim is for parents and teachers to work together to benefit the pupils at the Drive. There are lots of areas were parental help is needed in the school. Helping in the classroom, with resources or accompanying groups on outings and of course fund raising. We have recently held a Halloween Disco. The children were able to celebrate Halloween in a safe environment, they were able to dress up in their costumes and join in with games and activities. There were drinks and food on sale and I think it is safe to say the children had a great time. Any funds raised go into school funds to benefit the whole school. We have also had a cake sale. Money raised from this was split three ways. Miss Haydens class wanted to raise £15 for WATER AID to provide a water pump for children in a village that had no clean water. The Bits and Bobs Club that meet after school on Wednesday made some cakes and biscuits and they wanted to sell them to raise money for Children in Need. The rest of the money was put into school funds. This was a lovely way for the children to think of others and they were very proud of themselves. Please come and join us, we are a fun group who can meet morning or afternoons, if you can't come to the meetings but are interested in finding out more about us or helping out with specific activities please let the secretary know and someone from the PTA will have a chat to you.

Peter Bolger and Chris Hewitson from Gateshead City Learning Centre will lead a staff session introducing the school website this afternoon. Colleagues will have the opportunity to publish to the website during the session and will gain a clear overview of the site functionality and feature set.

If you look down on the right hand side of our website, you'll see a new member of staff.
She joined us last week and she's a lovely black and white pussycat....

We need a name for her. Can you help out? Can you think of a good name?

Use the Comments link below to give us your suggestions. We'll announce the winner soon!