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Charities Week...

Having been moved from its usual December slot in the calendar, last week saw the appearance

of our annual Charities Week: five days of frantic fundraising when staff, students and parents dig

deep to support our chosen local charities. The three charities chosen this year were the Percy

Hedley Foundation, The People’s Kitchen and Streetwise (you can click on their logos at the

bottom of the page to find out more about each charity).

The week kicked off with RGS has Talent on Monday evening which provided an opportunity for

students of all ages to show off their unique and

unexpected talents! The competition was won by

Rosie Kat and Maisie Jenkins. Rosie’s song, which she

had written herself, was all about the three local

charities and was very inspirational.

On Wednesday, hoards of students and staff flocked

to the Main Hall during morning break where they

could purchase a selection of homemade cakes and

other baked goods – delicious!

On Thursday, the Staff vs. Sixth Form football match

drew in big crowds; the staff eventually winning the match, much to the sixth formers’ dismay!

Perhaps the highlight of the week took place on Thursday evening when a handful of students

took to the PAC stage to tread the catwalk in the Fashion Show. It was obvious that the students

involved had put in an incredible amount of work, both front and backstage, and this certainly

paid off on the night as the packed audience witnessed a show that was professional, entertaining

and raised a record-breaking £3040!

On Friday, all the students swapped their uniforms for

more casual attire for non-uniform day and some

students even took part in a sponsored silence.

Meanwhile, a Rock Gig in the Main Hall over lunchtime

saw a range of bands playing to big audiences.

Years 7 and 8 also took part in a sponsored Readathon

all week, raising even more money for the charities.

Guest speakers from the three chosen charities

visited the school during the week and their

presentations proved very moving and reaffirmed the

students’ belief that the money raised was going to really worthwhile causes.

Money is still being counted but the total raised so far is over £7000! This is, yet again a fantastic

achievement by our students and they should be tremendously proud of their efforts. Thank you

to all parents for your on-going support with fundraising and your generosity.

More Charities Week pictures overleaf...

Page 4 22nd November 2013 Page 2

Above:

The RGS Fashion Show!

Above:

Lunch time Rock Gig in the Main Hall

Above and right:

Staff vs. Sixth Form football

match

As temperatures drop, it is a good time to

remind parents and students of the

school’s procedure for early closure in the

event of bad weather. Although, where

possible, we aim to keep the school open

in bad weather, there may be times when

this is not possible. We hope parents will

find this information useful.

Click here to view the policy for early

closure.

Early closure in

bad weather...

If your son/daughter is going to be absent from school for any

reason, please contact the school by phone (0191 281 5711)

before 9am, giving their name, form and reason for absence.

If your child is going to be absent for a second day

or longer, please keep us informed by phoning the

number above on each morning of the absence, or

by emailing registration@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk

REMINDER:

Term Dates

Term dates for 2014-15 are now available and

can be viewed on the school website or by

clicking here.

22nd November 2013 Page 3

On Friday 15th November, Climb Newcastle (one of

the North’s premier bouldering venues) held the

first round of its annual Winter

Bouldering series, attracting some

of the top climbers from wide

and far.

Several RGS students took

part with a number of

notable successes:

Nina Harvie-Clark (Year 10)

came 2nd in the Junior Female

section

Abel Harvie-Clark and James

Dodds (both Year 8) were 4th and

5th respectively in the Junior Male

section

Most impressively, three of our Upper

Sixth students finished in the top 10 of the

Adult Male section (the most competitive section

of them all):

Jonah Vinsome (pictured) was placed 1st

Peter Stephenson was placed 8th

Ben Talks was placed 10th

This is another excellent result for

Jonah following his victory in the

adult section of the Spring

Bouldering Competition at the

same venue and hopefully a

sign of further wider success

for him (at National level if

he pushes himself in that

direction).

In addition, several ON’s took

part with good results: Josh

Wood (23rd), Connor Flynn (14th),

and (of recent vintage) Tom Rookes

who “won” the staff section of the

competition.

Full results can be viewed here.

Well done to all those involved!

- Mr Dunn

This fortnight in news...

This week has been National Anti-Bullying Week and students have had assemblies and form time on the themes of cyberbullying and the role of the bystander.

Students have also been told about a new email address which they can use to report bullying: beatbullying@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk

For more information and guidance for parents on this topic please click here which will take you to a brief summary which I have written.

Year 7 students are currently enjoying their Wellbeing Days which form part of the Year 7 PSHE scheme of work. These involve learning basic cooking skills with Mr Flowers in the

Teaching Kitchen as well as workshops on healthy eating and body image. Dishes have included scrambled eggs with homemade wholemeal bread, pork escalope with winter vegetables and new potatoes with vegetarian bolognese!

Year 7

Wellbeing Days

- Miss Jarvis (Head of PSHE) - Mrs Baillie (Pastoral Director)

22nd November 2013 Page 4

Dates for the Diary!

Friday 22nd November

The Friends of the RGS Quiz Night at 7.00 pm

(Dining Hall)

Monday 25th November

Lower Sixth Parents’ Conference at 4.00 pm (Dining Hall)

Thursday 28th November

EPQ Presentation Evening at 5.00 pm (Lilburne Hall)

Tuesday 26th November

RGS presents Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas at 7.00 pm (Studio Theatre)

Wednesday 27th November

RGS presents Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas at 5.30 pm and 7.00 pm

(Studio Theatre)

Friday 29th November

Junior Friends Christmas Fair from 3.30 pm - 6.00 pm (Fenwick and Lilburne)

Monday 2nd December

Lord Mayor’s Holiday SCHOOL CLOSED

Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th December

RGS presents Carrots The Musical at 7.00 pm

(PAC)

For more information on anything contained within this newsletter, or to provide us

with any news updates, please email:

communications@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk

Junior Friends are hosting a Christmas Fair on Friday 29th

November from 3.30 pm - 6.00 pm in the Fenwick and

Lilburne Halls of Brandling House. There will be a variety

of stalls from hot food to festive treats with lots of

games and prizes to be won as well as a tombola and

raffle. There will also be a range of merchandise you

may wish to buy as gifts, including jewellery, bags

and portraits. We hope to see you there, even for a short

while, to warm up with a piping hot latte or cappuccino -

a perfect end to a long working day.

Be there or miss out!

Pratima Chauhan

Chair

Junior Friends

Junior Friends Christmas Fair

Lower Sixth Parents’

Conference

This year we are trialling a new online system which

allows you to book appointments with teachers. This

is in direct response to the results of the survey we

carried out last term. If you are attending the

conference and you have not already booked your

appointments please click here for instructions on

how to do so (the link for the booking system is at the

top of this document).

For more information about arrangements for the

Lower Sixth Parents’ Conference please click here.

- Mr Loxley (Director of Studies)