Well done to our XC runners who represented East Northumberland district in the Northumberland County championships today.

The students demonstrated resilience and independence in adverse weather conditions.

If you wish your child to attend any of these clubs please complete this google form Extra Curricular Activities 15 Jan – 29 Mar 24

From using them for communication, work, shopping and entertainment, devices such as smartphones, laptops and the rest are now deeply ingrained into modern society. Small wonder, then, that young people – who’ve grown up surrounded by such gadgets – can sometimes struggle to put them down, switch them off or keep themselves occupied without them.

While limiting our screen time may require a great deal of restraint, the effort can be rewarded with significant benefits to our physical and mental health. Our #WakeUpWednesday guide has simple tips for helping to manage the amount of screen time in your household – encouraging the whole family to spend more quality time together and live in the moment.

North East Creativity Collaborative Network

The North East Creativity Collaborative Network (NECCN) is a professional learning community of twelve schools working together to test a range of innovative practices in teaching for creativity, with the explicit intention that learning is shared to facilitate system-wide change. Working alongside existing school structures, Headteachers, Creative Leads and wider teaching staff are co-developing creative strategy and pedagogy through a series of enquiries and evaluating the impact both on their own practice, and on pupils.

The network was established in 2021/2022 as part of a National Arts Council England funded three-year pilot programme consisting of eight regional collaboratives, in response to the Durham Commission recommendations. The commission looked at the role creativity and creative thinking should play in the education of young people. It was set up in response to the strength of opinion across the business, education, and public sectors that young people are emerging into a world in which the skills and knowledge of the current education system will no longer be sufficient.

In September 2023, we were thrilled to welcome five new schools to the collaborative:

Hotspur Primary School
Shillbottle Primary School
Greenhough Primary School
Benton Dene Primary School
Duke’s Secondary School

The schools in the North East Creativity Collaborative are led by Cragside Primary School. The other schools in the network are:

Duchess’s Community High School
Seahouses Primary
New York Primary
Fordley Primary
Cambois Primary
Sunningdale School

The NECCN have a shared understanding and vocabulary for creativity which was co-developed by Lucas, Claxton and Spencer (2012) at the Centre of Real-World Learning at Winchester University together with Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE). The five-dimensional model called the Creative Habits of Mind supports schools and teachers to understand how creativity can be developed in all subjects and age phases and that it’s a vital capability which supports children and young people’s learning.

The NECCN is working in partnership with CCE, an international foundation based in the region with expertise in creativity in education alongside eminent consultants such as Professor Bill Lucas and Professor Louise Stoll.